Wireless computing technologies provide untethered access to the Internet and other networks. One of the most critical technologies for wireless networking (or Wi-Fi) is the IEEE 802.11 family of protocols promulgated by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Currently, the protocols are widely adopted in wireless devices such as laptop computers, tablet computers, smart phones, and network appliances.
Typically, access points provide a port for wireless devices to access a network. At a business, several access points can be spread around a geographical region so that employees have Internet access as they travel around to different meeting rooms and even different buildings on a campus. Sometimes, rogue access points are placed in the network by unscrupulous people, or even an employee without any intent for harm. The rogue access points present vulnerabilities to the network because the access points may not be in conformity with a security policy of the network. For example, the access point may not require a password for connections, thereby allowing undesirable accesses to the network.
Currently, network administrators have difficulty in monitoring against rogue devices. One solution is to physically walk around the geographical region checking for signals from rogue access points. However, rogue access points can be powered up for malicious activity, and then powered down until needed again. This makes random walk-throughs ineffective in consistent monitoring. Another solution is to deploy a dedicated device for constant monitoring of rogue access points. Problematically, the dedicated device can only monitor a portion of large geographical areas. Effective monitoring can drastically increase costs because multiple stationary monitors may be needed to cover the entire geographical area.
What is needed is a robust technique to monitor for rogue access points and other anomalous devices without the physical effort or expense drawbacks, as described.